Wednesday 20 August 2014

GREEN FINGERS: The Taming of an Unruly Back Garden

Garden

There's nothing better then starting the day off with some gardening a couple of times a week. I'm super luckily in being able to work out of the home, so to spend those quiet hours working away has been lovely in the last couple of weeks. With an August challenge to finish all the hard landscaping - the trimming the trees, straightening up the borders and getting rid of most of the unruly weeds, it's been a bit of a work out, not sure it'll all be cleared by September, but it's fun all the same.

Garden Garden

So the before and after of the border in front of the decking after most of the unruly weeds have been pulled out. In a former life I think it was somewhat of a rockery - there's certainly a lot of large stones, but it's a damp and dark part of the garden, great for hostas mind. So far I've put in a homemade bird feeder and bird bath, both of which I hope to be sharing in the coming weeks once I get chance. Along the side of the decking you'll find half of the raspberries which need transplanting because where they stand right now, we can't get down the side of the house which is an issue when you have a chimney to fix. So as the autumn approaches we'll be moving the berry bushes and restraining the deck a lovely blue on our mission to add some colour other than green into the garden.

Garden Garden

Jump to the other end of the garden and attention has been turned to clearing out overgrown shrubs, weeds and trees and turning it into the veg patch - I'm aiming to get some carrots, radishes and garlic in to start us off. This is where the other half of the raspberries can be found and where the others will be finding their new home. So aside from the berries and the hibiscus trees that I love the colour of, everything is getting cleared out. The above before and afters were taken after a hard mornings work but there's still a load more to do to the opposite side (shown below) what with a a random tree growing up in the middle of my raspberry brushes and some really overgrown Evening Primrose flowers.


Garden

Beside weeds there's not much else going on back there, we did try our luck on some out of season and therefore reduced dahlia and foxglove bulbs back in July. Apparently the dahlias couldn't care less that they should be coming to the end of their flowering season by now and are growing like no ones business, really not sure what's going on with the foxgloves. Ah well, worth a try either way.

Garden

Running along the back fence is an over run mass of ground cover. It's like ivy, but more in the form of a mini bush - i'm saying that because I have no idea what it really is. All I know is that it's a pain to pull up. It's awful. I hate it with a passion. Still I guess it's keeping the weeds out, but I want it gone. The garden still has things to uncover - pavers lost under 2 inches of soil, bricks, rose bushes in the shade of dead shrubs to wind chimes long knocked off their branches. As for the front garden, that's pretty much taken care off with lots of bushes and a gorgeous magnolia tree, but again there's no colour.

With autumn around the corner, it's been time to work out what needs doing before winter sets in - what needs moving and pruning but also the really fun stuff like how to get more colour in. Like I mentioned we're staining the deck a blue shade in the coming weeks and have plans for filling the borders with spring bulbs - daffodils, tulips and snowdrops to finally add some more life into the garden. Slowly working towards my pinterest fed dream of having an old Englishy style garden in the suburbs of Michigan.

18 comments:

  1. Sounds like you have great plans for your garden! it looks like it has a lot of potential and I can't wait to see the finished make-over :) x

    Dreaming Again

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    1. Thank you! Hopefully all the weeding will get finished in the next couple of weeks and when spring rolls around we'll have lots of colour going on!

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  2. This is really coming along. I love all the raspberry bushes you've got. I'm thinking lots of raspberry recipes!

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    1. I need to be a bit more inventive next year with recipes, rather than ya know, just eating them with ice cream!

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    2. What's that a recipe all by itself. 3 different flavours, that's three recipes right there! Start adding sauce into the mix and it might get all crazy!

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  3. Looks like so much work, I don't think I could do it lol I look at pretty pictures of gardens on pinterest and think "I want a garden!" but then I look at your photos and see all the work and time it takes and it's like "eh... maybe not." :P Can't wait to see how it turns out! :)

    Jessica
    the.pyreflies.org

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    1. Yeah there is a big difference between pinterest and everyday gardening for sure! Hopefully it'll all be worth the hard work - it's certainly a great workout at the moment.

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  4. This is SUCH a gorgeous yard! I dream of having a somewhat wild, unruly garden one day. If you don't already have a pup, this would be a perfect yard for one :)

    Cat
    http://oddlylovely.com

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    1. Haha you're right there, we don't have a puppy at the moment (just two indoor cats) but one has been on the cards for a while once we get everything in shape. It's great that it's all fenced in too!

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  5. Looking forward to seeing how all your hard work is going to look in the Spring time. You might discover bulbs that the previous owners had coming out then too. Although I love a nice garden, I don't particularly find it therapeutic like others do. Have your cats made it outside yet?

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    1. Our cats are both indoor kitties so they get to admire it from the inside. We have a huge window over looking the front garden so they are more than happy looking at the birds and squirrels that way! I'm hoping I come across some long forgotten bulbs, random other plants keep appearing under others so there's always a chance!

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  6. Gardens always seem like never ending work when you first move in (perhaps they sometimes are, since I'm still reinventing mine six years in!) but it sounds like you're getting it kicked into shape already. The blue deck paint sounds like a great way to infuse some extra color into the yard! And this reminds me I really must add more bulbs to my spring garden this fall since fewer and fewer of my tulips, daffodils, and grape hyacinths are coming up each year, sadly.

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    1. Seriously a spot of rain and it's all fun weeding - that never seems to end! I love hyacinths, everyone in my family use to give them to each other for Christmas and then plant them into the garden the following years. They have such great colour with them!

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  7. Getting used to what grows and what doesn't is so hard , I still lose things to the snow and ice every year. I think painting your deck is a brilliant idea and will put some great colour into the garden as well as planting spring bulb, I know I crave colour after a long, white winter!

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    1. Yeah I'm not sure how much will survive over a Michigan winter to be honest, i'm surprised some unruly sweet peas made it through the "polar vortex" we had last year I will be honest! The deck is a dark worn out brown at the moment and we didn't fancy a brown or a red shade, so adding in some blue it is! Not that i'll see much of it during the winter mind haha.

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  8. I love the before and after shots, you've done such a great job on the garden! Can't wait to see how it looks in the spring!

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    1. Thank you! Knowing what it might be like come spring is certainly keeping me going, had a bit of a break this week so need to get cracking any next week.

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  9. Looks like you have loads of space to do lots of different things!!!!

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